Gillingham manager Neil Harris questions his side’s leadership after Grimsby Town defeat

Gillingham manager Neil Harris has questioned his side’s leadership following a poor display at Grimsby.

For the second game running the Gills were two-down inside the first half hour.

More: “I can’t be any more disappointed”

Harris’ men responded at Luton Town in the midweek League Cup defeat, as they threatened a comeback against the Premier League side, but that never looked on the cards in what was a dour display from front to back at Blundell Park in their League 2 clash.

A disappointed Harris, speaking after the 2-0 weekend defeat, said: “We severely lacked leadership, that’s clearly obvious in the back line.

“We set our stall out with four wins from four and the expectation levels rose, I was trying to play it down.

“I can accept losing the odd game, and I can accept losing to Grimsby by not playing well, or losing to Colchester in the second half, but not back-to-back, that is not good enough.

“If there is anybody in my changing room that thinks because we had a good start we are here now and that’s it, that was a huge wake-up call, a massive wake-up call.

“I think there are some senior players who need to have a good look at themselves.”

Harris made changes to try and get them back in the game, with captain Shaun Williams replaced at the break. Young defender Shad Ogie was also withdrawn as the Gills reshuffled.

Despite the changes, the Gills never got going. Only late in the game did the Grimsby keeper get called into action.

Harris will have to work with what he’s got now until January and hope they get over a bad weekend quickly.

He said: “I knew that the shortfalls we had in the group over the summer and we tried to address it (in the window).

“There was a severe lack of leadership (on Saturday), I have